


A Game Of War: A 500 Word Story

by Prince_Of_The_Night



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Bittersweet, Other, POV Ikari Shinji, POV Second Person, Short, Time Loop, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 19:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prince_Of_The_Night/pseuds/Prince_Of_The_Night
Summary: The war starts before you’re born and it takes your mother when you’re four.





	A Game Of War: A 500 Word Story

**Author's Note:**

> A short story written based on the guidelines of "500 words or less" that is our next project in Creative Writing. Follows Shinji's POV and written in second person POV because my teacher talked about how hard it is to write in 2nd and how not many people do; so I said "challenge excepted". This is the result, I hope you enjoy it.

The war starts before you’re born and it takes your mother when you’re four. It takes your father too, in a way; he leaves you with Auntie and Uncle and doesn’t come back. He doesn’t come back until you’re sixteen, and even then it’s only a short letter. A few, cold lines. ‘ _The war is too much, you are to come to XXXXXX as soon as possible. I have a job for you._ ’

You want to hate your father for it, but you can’t. You really can’t. You go even though it sends a swirling, screaming feeling into your gut. You are not the only one forced to play the role of soldier because there are two others. A girl who is barely a girl, a shadow of a person, and a second girl, who hates you so much. You can’t figure out why. The fourth person to get dragged into the war is the first — and only — friend you managed to make in the godforsaken city that people have yet to abandon. He dies and you find it a little hilarious, so you don't stop laughing; the commander calls it a breakdown and you get locked away in a pale room for two days.

When you come out, the fifth is there. He’s tall and slim and so, so pale that you wonder if he’s an angel on Earth, or whatever passes for Earth these days. He calls himself Kaworu and you like how it sounds in your mouth; you like how your name sounds in his even better — _Shinji_ _, Shinji, Shinji_. You get closer than war should allow and you can see the commander dislikes it.

_She can piss off_ , you tell Kaworu and you both laugh. It’s the first time you’ve felt vindictive, or anything more than apathetic. It feels nice.

Kaworu tells you he loves you. You believe him and, just a little bit, you think you might be falling in love with him. You play the piano together and it reminds you of your mother. He tells you he thinks you’re beautiful and you end up being unable to stop crying. He smiles like an angel.

And then everything falls apart because Kaworu dies, and so does that girl who hates you. Shadow Girl dies too - you know because you feel her heart stop yourself and there was too much blood for her to be alive - but then she shows up the next day and you realize she was never even alive. You can’t bring yourself to care about wars or being alive, so you die too—

—The war starts before you’re born and it takes your mother when you’re four. It takes your father too, in a way; he leaves you with Auntie and Uncle and doesn’t come back. You carve a _2_ into the back of your hand where your thumb meets your wrist and wonder if everyone is going to die again.

You don’t really care as long as Kaworu is there.


End file.
